Just Label It News Roundup 5-25

Organic farms should not be seen as a threat to the conventional sector, but instead a protective relative. Almost a century ago, Monsanto opened a chemical factory in Anniston, Ala., and Mathieu Asselin spent years photographing the town’s damaged landscape. A study on rats said to show that a chemical in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller poses “a significant public health concern.” Also in the news, the Department of Agriculture’s proposed food labeling rule threatens to further undermine consumer trust. Many consumers and food labeling advocates have dissected the proposed rule, finding that the new “BE” label with sunshine and happy faces will only further confuse consumers and keep GMO ingredients hidden. Professor Pamela Ronald is probably the scientist most widely known for publicly defending genetically engineered crops, but a recent investigation shows she was receiving funding from Bayer. Monsanto has shelved a longstanding project to bring Bt soybeans to the U.S. by the turn of the decade. After a virus was created from mail-order DNA, scientists are sounding the alarm about the genetic tinkering carried out in garages and living rooms. And lastly, a new study shows almost all farms could significantly cut chemical use while producing as much food, in a major challenge to the billion-dollar pesticide industry.

Americans have already lost faith in big food brands, and the brands are only giving consumers more reasons not to trust them. In 2015, food, farm and biotechnology companies, and their trade association spent more than $100 million to fight consumers’ right to know what’s in their food and how it’s grown. Last year, the industry successfully delayed an update to the Nutrition Facts Panel on packaged foods.

Professor Pamela Ronald is probably the scientist most widely known for publicly defending genetically engineered (GE or GMO) crops. Her media persona, familiar to readers of the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, NPR, and many other global media outlets, is to take no prisoners.

Monsanto has shelved a longstanding project to bring Bt soybeans to the U.S. by the turn of the decade. The company cited low grower demand, but U.S. insect resistance to the proteins in its Bt soybean product is more likely the culprit, entomologists told DTN.